We set very high standards with regard to attendance. Your child should be in school every day unless he or she is ill. If your child is absent for any reason, please use our Studybugs App or register on the Studybugs website (https://studybugs.com/about/parents) so that on the first day of absence you can securely inform the school and keep the school informed in regards to when they will be returning.
- Holidays during term time cannot be authorised.
- Unexplained absences are always queried.
Medical Appointments
Whenever possible, medical and dental appointments should be booked outside school hours. When this is not possible, please attach a copy of the appointment card to the application and the office informed. Children should be returned to school promptly after appointments and signed out and in at the welcome desk.
Illness
Parents/carers should contact the school on the first day of their child’s absence by 9:00am. When parents/carers notify us of their child’s absence it is important that they provide us with details of the reason for their absence. All absences are recorded as either authorised or unauthorised absences on the computer.
If the absence is likely to continue for an extended period, or be a repetitive absence, the school will contact the support services to see if arrangements can be made for the child to be given some home tuition outside school. Where over the course of an academic year, a child has repeated periods of illness, the school will write to parents to ask them to provide medical evidence for each future period of illness related absence. This evidence could be a Doctor’s note, appointment card or copy of a prescription. We may seek written permission from you for the school to make their own enquiries.
Childhood Illness and Wellbeing Handbook The NHS Mid Sussex CCG Childhood Illness and Wellbeing Handbook has been created to allow parents and carers access to guidance when their child becomes ill. This extensive and informative handbook covers the ages from birth up to 11 years old; providing advice on spotting the signs of illnesses, as well as, information regarding minor conditions or ailments – such as; rashes, coughs and colds or fevers.
‘Information on mental health and wellbeing, healthy lifestyles and advice on some more serious conditions like meningitis and sepsis is also covered in the booklet. There’s also a handy section on when you should keep your child home from school.’ ~NHS Mid Sussex CCG
Medication
Parents/carers are encouraged to administer medicines around school hours where possible or visit the school at lunchtime to administer the medication themselves. Where this is not possible and school staff are willing, they may administer basic medicines in school e.g. antibiotics or creams; provided that this has been prescribed by a doctor and that a consent form is completed by the parent, together with dosage directions.
All children with specific conditions e.g. Asthma, epilepsy or severe allergies, will have a medical form completed and held in the office, staff-room and in the class file. A visible display of children who require Epi pens is discreetly posted in the staff-room and dining hall. Appropriate medication should be with the child and in classrooms at all times if the assessment within the medical form makes this a recommendation, (e.g. inhalers and Epi-pens); a spare should also be kept in School office.
Named and labelled inhalers and Epi-pens will be kept in a box in the School office and in classrooms for specific children. The dates are checked regularly by the lead first-aider. Training is organised on a regular basis for the use of Epi-pens.
First Aid
We always have qualified First Aid staff on duty to administer treatment to children who have minor accidents. Should anything more serious occur, the relevant medical professionals will be contacted, as well as informing the parent/carer.
Please ensure your emergency contact details are always up to date, at the school office.